One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey

This novel is narrated by “Chief Broom” Bromden, the setting being in a psychiatric hospital. Bromden is seen as deaf and mute Native American throughout the story; however, not everything is as it seems. Central character Randle Patrick McMurphy is happy to transfer from a prison work farm to a mental institution, thinking that the mental institute will have a less restrictive environment but quickly finds out otherwise. The narrative serves as a critique of behaviorism and looks into individuals' minds to see what is really happening. The novel serves as a study of institutional processes and what it was like to be in a mental hospital in the 1960s. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was published in 1962. The novel was said to be in the “100 Best English-language Novels from its publication to 2005.” It was made into an Academy Award winning comedy/drama produced by Michael Douglas and starring Jack Nicholson in 1975.